Agree with Bullion Baron we probably wont be going backwards in technology and depends on the crash, deflationary then coins will go down just like all other assets, inflationary then there is no reason for them not to go sky high unless wealth gets extremely concentrated to only the few that everything else will have little value, some perverse hyper-stagflation scenario.
I think bitcoin goes up alongside gold and silver. I would be hesitant to refer a rush into bitcoin as a "flight to safety" but it's the same sentiment that would drive it up. Especially if China plays a big part in the crash and capital controls are clamped in response to the crash I think bitcoin is a legitimate "off grid" place for smart money to store wealth. I also believe bitcoin is about to break out of a beautifully formed pennant formation and so there is immediate upside to holding bitcoin right now (insert disclaimer)
I think bitcoin would go the way of all digital 'wealth' before it's reborn as an exclusive tool of the governments. I doubt there'd be enough faith to go around for bitcoin to survive.
It's definitely high risk option, but Asians are gamblers and they are also tech savvy. If faced with the option of holding onto a collapsing Yuan, physical gold/silver supply dried up and having the exits to other currencies blocked by (more) capital controls I reckon they'll be all over bitcoin. A full blown SHTF is bad for bitcoin if things like electricity and infrastructure start breaking down, but a financial crash by itself with society still functioning is a situation I see bitcoin thriving.
Please define "Survive". Will BTC still be available for trading if its value halved overnight? Yes, I think so - it's been there and done that.
Yes, short of an EMP that wipes out ALL the nodes worldwide, I see Bitcoin functioning long into the future. Bitcoin is probably more likely to be replaced/superseded by another CryptoCurrency rather than just dying out.
The banking system will take over the bitcoin concept and will also have the monopoly on cryptocurrency ...
We have enough trouble maintaining comms infra today in Australia so what will happen if the economy turns really bad? Sure, there will be pockets of good internet access, but very likely not enough to maintain a digital economy.
If my memory serves me correctly, the all time high price in BTC was due to people moving their cash into the cryptocurrency when the Greek economy tanked. I would assume a similar thing to happen if we experienced 'the' big one.
Banks are already working on a blockchain based system. http://www.smh.com.au/business/bank...ing-with-10-global-banks-20160120-gmalvp.html